The bed-type massaging apparatus is generally equipped in the interior of the bed base with massaging rollers which drive and run due to a driving apparatus, and is made such that the massaging rollers move and run on guide rails arranged on both sides of the interior of the bed base. The bed-type apparatus makes it possible to massage the back part of the human body with a finger-pressure or a sliding movement, provided that the massaging rollers as they rotate slide along the back of the human body when lying supine on the bed-type massaging apparatus. In recent years, the apparatus can preferably be changed to the compact size for the purpose of taking up less space at the time of transport or storage.
For example, a bed-type massaging apparatus is known in which foldable guide rails are arranged on both sides of the interior of the bed base; the bed frame itself can be folded with an elastic body; and the massaging rollers are made so as to move and run on the guide rails. This known apparatus was intended to occupy less space during transport or storage by making the bed base two-folded or three-fold when not in use.
However, in this known bed-type massaging apparatus, the expansion or the contraction of the bed base is merely so that it is possible to fold for the purpose of transporting and storing, and although the breadth of the bed base can be contracted in the transverse direction, it is impossible to decrease the overall volume. Consequently, problems associated with packing etc. still exist.
Furthermore, since the known bed-type massaging apparatus has the object of contracting the breadth for transport and storage, it is not possible to control the expansion or contraction in proportion to the stature of the user. Accordingly, in the case where a user of shorter stature than the length of the bed base uses it and massages the body, the rollers for massaging move over a range in excess of the user's stature, namely on parts of the user's stature in excess of the necessary range to generate optimum massaging, thereby wasting electric power and time.
Then, the applicant of the present invention discovered that, as a means to overcome the above-mentioned problems, the bed base of the bed-type massaging apparatus can be oppositely expanded or contracted in the lengthwise direction without folding. But, in this case, there have been problems concerning the means for expanding or contracting the cover cloth covering the surface of the bed base in order to make the cover cloth movement applicable to the bed base movement.
The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for controlling expansion or contraction of the cover cloth with respect to the bed base so that it is possible to change the length, in which the bed base and the cover cloth expand or contract in associated relation, and besides which it is possible to constantly maintain the cover cloth in a tightened condition in an optional position of expansion or contraction, so as to overcome the above-mentioned problems.